Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MONTGOMERY, Al| The Mountain Lions opened their 2026 season today (Jan. 30th) with a doubleheader on the road against Auburn Montgomery. Young Harris would split the doubleheader, falling by the score of 6-5 in a tightly contested game one before bouncing back with an offensive explosion to take game two by the score of 15-5.  

Young Harris begins the 2026 season with a record of 1-1 while AUM also moves to 1-1. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: 

GAME ONE (6-5) 

• AUM jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning on a pair of RBIs and a bases loaded walk. 

• Young Harris would take the lead in the top of the fourth inning with Keypher Contreras making the score 3-1 on an RBI single before Sydney Ward delivered a three-run blast over the left field fence to give YH a 4-3 lead. 

• Christopher McNeill tied the game in the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run before an RBI single in the fifth gave the Warhawks a 5-4 lead. 

• Jack Enrico knotted the game at five runs apiece in the top of the eighth with a sacrifice fly to score Kade Smallwood. 

• Christopher McNeill would hit his second home run of the day in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Warhawks the deciding 6-5 lead. 

• Austin Ritchie got the opening day start for Young Harris, only allowing two earned runs across 4.1 innings before being relieved by Trey Griffin, who would finish the game only allowing one run across 3 and 2/3 innings pitched. 

GAME TWO (15-5) 

• Young Harris jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI single from Jonny Smith before AUM used a solo home run to tie the game at one heading into the fourth. 

• The Mountain Lions bats erupted in the top of the fourth with Keypher Contreras belting a two-run home run to right field while Drew Bray would deliver an RBI single to give YH a 4-1 lead. Later that inning, Kade Smallwood would stretch the lead to 7-1 with a three-run blast over the right-field fence. 

• The Warhawks would respond with two runs in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 7-3. 

• Young Harris added two runs in the fifth inning with Jackson Morgan scoring on a wild pitch and Jonny Smith wearing a hit by pitch to score Kaden Alford. 

• The Mountain Lions made the lead 11-3 in the top half of the seventh inning with Drew Bray bringing home Sydney Ward on an RBI groundout and Jonny Smith finding the right center gap for an RBI double. 

• Following an AUM run in the seventh, Sydney Ward would deliver an RBI single and later score on a sacrifice fly before Kade Smallwood knocked an RBI single to give YH a 15-4 lead. 

• Cole Molina got the start on the mound, going 3.2 innings and only allowing two earned runs before being relieved by Ryan Heishman who would pitch 3.1 innings, allowing zero earned runs. Brock Parker and Kaleb Perry would close out the game for the Mountain Lions, pitching an inning apiece. 

UP NEXT: Young Harris will return to action on Sunday, February 1st for game three against AUM at 2:00 p.m. EST.